and i've been speaking to some people very close to the obama administration, who played a big part in his foreign policy team and i think they realize big challenges are coming, particularly in the middle east. >> and what's coming is the state of the union which is the president's next chance to do a deeper dive and get granular, but fate has a funny way. >> and things are a little bit out of his control. i don't know what he would say in the -- in the state of the union that's very different from what he said here. he can outline principles which are we support democracy. but if you're dealing with a region that is collapsing, state implosion in parts of the middle east, renewed and revised tribalism and conflicts, i don't know how defending a general principle of supporting democracy is going to contain the challenges in a very big region of the world. >> in a way, david, this mirrors the conference you had yesterday on "meet the press." it's kind of the changing world, the unanticipatables, the algerias that we did not know were out there a week ago. >> and this question too that